scholarly journals Tackling energy poverty through social intrapreneurship in large-scale energy companies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria-Jose Manjon ◽  
Amparo Merino ◽  
Iain Cairns
Keyword(s):  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Energy Poverty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
Energy Companies ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present advances towards a social intrapreneurship department within energy corporations. By drawing on the literature on social intrapreneurship and stakeholder theory, this paper provides a conceptual proposal for an organisational structure. This paper builds on the notion of bridging and boundary organisations, to suggest an organisational innovative structure as a social intrapreneurship endeavour focussing on the increasing salience of weak stakeholders in energy corporations from the energy justice approach. Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on the literatures on social intrapreneurship and stakeholder theory, to provide arguments and an organisational proposal to alleviate energy poverty in energy corporations. FindingsThe results are presented in a conceptual process model for the development of Social Energy Department units within large energy companies, illustrating their embeddedness in both societal and company-level processes to facilitate social intrapreneurship initiatives that would alleviate energy poverty in the just transition. Practical implicationsThe paper promises novel insights at the nexus of social enterprise and organisational change. The practical applicability is particularly promising, as it focusses on integrating novel units in energy companies and stimulates further research on models of social intrapreneurship to tackle energy poverty. Originality/valueThe paper offers both practical and theoretical contributions to the stakeholder theory field with insights from social intrapreneurship and organisational stakeholder theory in the context of a specific social problem – energy poverty, energy justice and the just energy transition.

scholarly journals Identification and analysis of handovers in organisations using process model repositories

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1599-1617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Leyer ◽  
Deniz Iren ◽  
Banu Aysolmaz
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Scale Method ◽  
Model Repository ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Organisational Level ◽  
Telecommunications Company

PurposeIdentifying handovers is an important but difficult to achieve goal for companies as handovers have advantages allowing for specialisation in processes as well as disadvantages by creating erroneous interfaces.Design/methodology/approachConceptualisation of a method based on theory and evaluation with company data using a process model repository.FindingsThe method allows to evaluate handovers from the perspective of roles in processes and grouping of employees in organisational units. It uses existing process model repositories connected with organisational chart information in companies to determine the density of handovers. The method is successfully evaluated using the example of a major telecommunications company with 1,010 process models in its repository.Practical implicationsCompanies can determine on various levels, up to the overall organisational level, in which parts of the company efforts are best spent to manage handovers in an optimal way.Originality/valueThis paper is first in showing how handovers can be conceptualised and identified with a large-scale method.

A cognitive process model of trust repair

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward C. Tomlinson ◽  
Christopher A. Nelson ◽  
Luke A. Langlinais
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Organizational Justice ◽  
Attribution Theory ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Causal Attribution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trust Repair ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how the reparative efforts of extensive apologies, compensation and structural change affect trust after a violation has occurred. Specifically, this paper presents a cognitive process model positing that voluntary reparative efforts will shape the victim’s stability attributions for the cause of the violation such that it will be deemed less stable (i.e. unlikely to recur); as a result, the victim is more likely to perceive the transgressor as being fair, and hence extend subsequent trust. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted to test the cognitive process model. Findings The results of both experiments supported this predicted sequence for extensive apologies. Support for the predicted sequence was also found when compensation and structural change are invoked as reparative efforts. Originality/value This research has theoretical and practical implications for a more nuanced understanding of how causal attribution theory and organizational justice theory can be integrated within the context of trust repair.

How “The Three Rules” guide strategy and investment decisions at Deloitte Consulting LLP

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Moffatt
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Content Type ◽  
First Case ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Thought Leadership

Purpose – This case example looks at how Deloitte Consulting applies the Three Rules synthesized by Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed based on their large-scale research project that identified patterns in the way exceptional companies think. Design/methodology/approach – The Three Rules concept is a key piece of Deloitte Consulting’s thought leadership program. So how are the three rules helping the organization perform? Now that research has shown how exceptional companies think, CEO Jim Moffatt could address the question, “Does Deloitte think like an exceptional company?” Findings – Deloitte has had success with an approach that promotes a bias towards non-price value over price and revenue over costs. Practical implications – It’s critical that all decision makers in an organization understand how decisions that are consistent with the three rules have contributed to past success as well as how they can apply the rules to difficult challenges they face today. Originality/value – This is the first case study written from a CEO’s perspective that looks at how the Three Rules approach of Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed can foster a firm’s growth and exceptional performance.

Suspecting service overprovisions: how market signals help restore personal control and reduce decision deferrals

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Subimal Chatterjee ◽  
Debi P. Mishra ◽  
Jennifer JooYeon Lee ◽  
Sirajul A. Shibly
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Personal Control ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Mediation Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quality Signal ◽  
Market Signals ◽  
Quality Signals ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Service providers often recommend unnecessary and expensive services to unsuspecting consumers, such as recommending a new part when a simple fix to the old will do, a phenomenon known as overprovisioning. The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent consumers tend to defer their decisions should they suspect that sellers are overproviding services to them and they cannot prevent the sellers from doing so (they lack personal control); and how proper market signals can mitigate such suspicions, restore personal control and reduce deferrals. Design/methodology/approach The paper conducts three laboratory experiments. The experiments expose the participants to hypothetical repair scenarios and measure to what extent they suspect that sellers might be overproviding services to them and they feel that they lack the personal control to prevent the sellers from doing so. Thereafter, the experiments expose them to two different market signals, one conveying that the seller is providing quality services (a repair warranty; quality signal) and the other conveying that the seller is taking away any incentives their agents (technicians) may have to overprovide services (the technicians are paid a flat salary; quantity signal). The paper examines how these quality/quantity signals are able to reduce overprovisioning suspicions, restore personal control and reduce decision deferrals. Findings The paper has two main findings. First, the paper shows a mediation process at work i.e. suspecting potential overprovisioning by sellers leads consumers to defer their decisions indirectly because they feel that they lack personal control to prevent the sellers from doing so. Second, the paper shows that the quantity signal (flat salary disclosure), but not the quality signal (warranty), is able to mitigate suspicions of overprovisioning, restore personal control and reduce decision deferrals. Practical implications The paper suggests that although buyers may rely on quality signals to assure them of superior service, these signals do not guarantee that the quantity of service they are receiving is appropriate. Therefore, sellers will have to send a credible quality signal and a credible quantity signal to the consumers if they wish to tackle suspicions about service overprovision and service quality. Originality/value The paper is original in two ways. First, the paper theorizes and tests a mediation process model whereby quality/quantity signals differentially mitigate overprovisioning suspicions, restore personal control and reduce decision deferrals. Second, the paper speaks to the necessity of expanding the traditional signaling literature, designed primarily to detect poor quality hidden in the products/services of lower-quality sellers, to include detecting/solving overprovisioning often hidden in the services provided by higher-quality sellers.

Communicate belonging? Duoethnography of an organisational change study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Crestani ◽  
Jill Fenton Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Change Management ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Change Initiatives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inclusive Language ◽  
Employee Resistance ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis duoethnography explores feelings of belonging that emerged as being relevant to the participants of a doctoral organisational change study. It challenges the prolific change management models that inadvertently encourage anti-belonging.Design/methodology/approachA change management practitioner and her doctoral supervisor share their dialogic reflections and reflexivity on the case study to open new conversations and raise questions about how communicating belonging enhances practice. They draw on Ubuntu philosophy (Tutu, 1999) to enrich Pinar's currere (1975) for understandings of belonging, interconnectedness, humanity and transformation.FindingsThe authors show how dialogic practice in giving employees a voice, communicating honestly, using inclusive language and affirmation contribute to a stronger sense of belonging. Suppressing the need for belonging can deepen a communication shadow and create employee resistance and alienation. Sharing in each other's personal transformation, the authors assist others in better understanding the feelings of belonging in organisational change.Practical implicationsPractitioners will need to challenge change initiatives that ignore belonging. This requires thinking of people as relationships, rather than as numbers or costs, communicating dialogically, taking care with language in communicating changes and facilitating employees to be active participants where they feel supported.Originality/valueFor both practice and academy, this duoethnography highlights a need for greater humanity in change management practices. This requires increasing the awareness and understanding of an interconnectedness that lies at the essence of belonging or Ubuntu (Tutu, 1999).

scholarly journals Business processes exceptions in relation to operational performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 908-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remco Dijkman ◽  
Oktay Turetken ◽  
Geoffrey Robert van IJzendoorn ◽  
Meint de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Normal Flow ◽  
Throughput Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Process Models ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Business process models describe the way of working in an organization. Typically, business process models distinguish between the normal flow of work and exceptions to that normal flow. However, they often present an idealized view. This means that unexpected exceptions – exceptions that are not modeled in the business process model – can also occur in practice. This has an effect on the efficiency of the organization, because information systems are not developed to handle unexpected exceptions. The purpose of this paper is to study the relation between the occurrence of exceptions and operational performance. Design/methodology/approach The paper does this by analyzing the execution logs of business processes from five organizations, classifying execution paths as normal or exceptional. Subsequently, it analyzes the differences between normal and exceptional paths. Findings The results show that exceptions are related to worse operational performance in terms of a longer throughput time and that unexpected exceptions relate to a stronger increase in throughput time than expected exceptions. Practical implications These findings lead to practical implications on policies that can be followed with respect to exceptions. Most importantly, unexpected exceptions should be avoided by incorporating them into the process – and thus transforming them into expected exceptions – as much as possible. Also, as not all exceptions lead to longer throughput times, continuous improvement should be employed to continuously monitor the occurrence of exceptions and make decisions on their desirability in the process. Originality/value While work exists on analyzing the occurrence of exceptions in business processes, especially in the context of process conformance analysis, to the best of the authors’ knowledge this is the first work that analyzes the possible consequences of such exceptions.

Industrial and tourism perspectives on open innovation

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 517-532
Author(s):  
Patricia P. Iglesias-Sánchez ◽  
Carmen Jambrino-Maldonado ◽  
Carlos de las Heras-Pedrosa
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Industries ◽  
Collective Effort ◽  
Two Sectors ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Open innovation (OI) involves the alignment of the organisation’s strategy and resources. Notably, companies will not adopt this emerging paradigm without a guarantee of better results. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify which combination of entrepreneurial managerial approaches makes it possible for companies to improve performance. Design/methodology/approach This study involves a survey questionnaire, 147 enterprises and regression analysis on the survey data to identify to what extent strategic and management orientations affect innovation performance (IP), as well as an analysis focusing on the results of two sectors (i.e. tourism and agri-food industries). Findings The main findings show a direct effect amongst the level of innovation, external openness and open innovation management (OIM), and IP. However, although there are no differences in the perception and orientation of OIM and the results across the two sectors, the influence of the variable firm size has been supported. Finally, the collective effort required by companies to ensure the successful implementation of OI processes and achieve high IP is outstanding. Practical implications This paper discusses the significance of these findings, highlighting the main practical implications for researchers and companies – especially the need to assimilate the organisational change involved in the challenge of OI. Originality/value This study combines the sectors industry and services, emphasises OIM and reinforces the literature in the field of IP.

scholarly journals The lifecycle of heuristics as managerial proverbs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Radu Atanasiu
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Process Step ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis paper proposes a theory-based process model for the generation, articulation, sharing and application of managerial heuristics, from their origin as unspoken insight, to proverbialization, to formal or informal sharing, and to their adoption as optional guidelines or policy.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual paper is built using systematic and non-systematic review of literature. This paper employs a three-step approach to propose a process model for the emergence of managerial heuristics. Step one uses a systematic review of empirical studies on heuristics in order to map extant research on four key criteria and to obtain, by flicking through this sample in a moving-pictures style, the static stages of the process; step two adapts a knowledge management framework to yield the dynamic aspect; step three assembles these findings into a graphical process model and uses insights from literature to enrich its description and to synthesize four propositions.FindingsThe paper provides insights into how heuristics originate from experienced managers confronted with negative situations and are firstly expressed as an inequality with a threshold. Further articulation is done by proverbialization, refining and adapting. Sharing is done either in an informal way, through socialization, or in a formal way, through regular meetings. Soft adoption as guidelines is based on expert authority, while hard adoption as policy is based on hierarchical authority or on collective authority.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are theory-based, and the model must be empirically refined.Practical implicationsPractical advice for managers on how to develop and share their portfolio of heuristics makes this paper valuable for practitioners.Originality/valueThis study addresses the less-researched aspect of heuristics creation, transforms static insights from literature into a dynamic process model, and, in a blended-theory approach, considers insights from a distant, but relevant literature – paremiology (the science of proverbs).

Succeeding in an increasingly Agile world

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Denning
Keyword(s):  
Customer Value ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Value Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Leaders ◽  
Immense Potential ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Management Thinking

Purpose As Agile management thinking spreads to every part and every kind of organization, including their competitors, corporate leaders need to take steps to ensure they get and keep a good seat at the Agile table. Design/methodology/approach The author’s first hand research finds that firms are learning the hard way that software process and value innovation requires a different way of running the organization to be successful. The whole firm has to become nimble, adaptable and able to adjust on the fly to meet the shifting whims of a marketplace driven by dynamic changes in customer value. Findings The Agile way of working is provoking a revolution in business that affects almost everyone. Agile organizations are connecting everyone and everything, everywhere, all the time. They are capable of delivering instant, intimate, frictionless value on a large scale. Practical implications Examples of the new way of running organizations are everywhere apparent. It’s not just the five biggest firms by market capitalization: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. It’s also firms like Airbnb, Etsy, Lyft, Menlo Innovations, Netflix, Saab, Samsung, Spotify, Tesla, Uber and Warby Parker. Social implications A new kind of management was needed to enable this new kind of worker -- a fundamentally different way of running organizations. Agile is economically more productive and a better fit with the new marketplace. And it had immense potential benefit for the human spirit. It could create workplaces that enabled human beings to contribute their full talents on something worthwhile and meaningful – creating value for other human beings. Originality/value Continuing the management practices and structures of the lumbering industrial giants of the 20th Century is no longer a viable option for today’s firms. To survive, let alone thrive, leaders today must recognize that Agile is not something happening in software alone.

International relationships and resilience of New Zealand SME exporters during COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Fath ◽  
Antje Fiedler ◽  
Noemi Sinkovics ◽  
Rudolf R. Sinkovics ◽  
Bridgette Sullivan-Taylor
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Model Transformation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Contingency Planning ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Relationship Strength ◽  
Managerial Action ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to empirically investigate how small- and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) have engaged with international network partners during COVID-19 and how the crisis has changed network relationships and resilience depending on pre-COVID relationship strength and, secondarily, on opportunity outlook in a market. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on 14 qualitative interviews with managers of New Zealand SMEs from diverse industries and four with industry experts. Rather than generalization, the aim of this exploratory paper is to identify contingency factors, which, under duress, strengthen or break business relationships. Findings Four main patterns emerge from the data, with respect to how SMEs engaged with network partners depending on the nature of their prepandemic relationships and the extent to which their markets had been affected by the pandemic. During crisis, weak ties either break or remain weak, forcing firms to create new, potentially opportunistic, relationships. Strong ties increase resilience, even under a negative outlook, as network partners support each other, including through the development of new ties. Strong ties can also accelerate business model transformation. Research limitations/implications Future large-scale research is needed to test the generalizability of the authors’ findings. Practical implications The findings of this paper indicate lessons for business continuation management and future preparedness for major disruptions. Specific insights may help stimulate managerial action to accelerate contingency planning and policy to support SMEs. Originality/value This paper is an early study on how weak and strong ties influence SME resilience during crisis.

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